Teen Accidents - Defensive Driving Class - WWJ-TV CBS Eye on Detroit

When NHRA drag racing star Doug Herbert lost his two young sons, Jon and James, in a tragic car crash in January of 2008, his grief led to his resolve to create a driving program which would help to prevent teen accidents and other families from experiencing similar heartbreak by teaching young drivers more conscientious and confident skills behind the wheel.

Herbert wasted no time in putting his mission into motion. Originally, Herbert’s intentions were to train his sons friends and to give them additional advanced behind the wheel skills and increase their decision-making ability in a vehicle.

In 2008, the first year of B.R.A.K.E.S., Doug focused on training Jon & James's friends and 50 teens were trained. The word soon spread and requests came to Herbert from hundreds of other parents wanting this same type of life saving training for their teen drivers, so Herbert made the decision to expand the program with the new goal of training every teen driver.

With the help of Jon & James's friends, he created B.R.A.K.E.S. (Be Responsible and Keep Everyone Safe), a 501(c)3 organization which provides free advanced driver’s education in a program entitled the B.R.A.K.E.S. Teen Pro-Active Driving Curriculum. Thousands of teenagers lose their lives each year across the country in traffic collisions.

This staggering number of fatalities can be reduced through the efforts of B.R.A.K.E.S. and its Teen Pro-Active Driving Curriculum.